movies

1816 – The World to Come (2020)

timespace coordinates: 1856 in Schoharie County – isolated farms on the American East Coast frontier

The World to Come is a 2020 drama film directed by Mona Fastvold, from a screenplay by Ron Hansen and Jim Shepard, based upon Shepard’s story of the same name. It stars Katherine WaterstonVanessa KirbyChristopher Abbott and Casey Affleck, and follows two neighboring couples battling hardship and isolation in mid-19th century America. (wiki)

imdb   /   rt

animation, manga

1803 – Children of the Sea (2019)

Children of the Sea (Japanese: 海獣の子供, Hepburn: Kaijū no Kodomo) is a 2019 Japanese animated film directed by Ayumu Watanabe and produced by Eiko Tanaka, with animation production by Studio 4°C. It is based on the manga of the same title by Daisuke Igarashi, who also wrote the film’s screenplay.

It is Watanabe’s first theatrically released film since Space Brothers #0 (2014), and the first animated film adaptation of an Igarashi manga. The film stars the voices of Mana Ashida, Hiiro Ishibashi and Seishū Uragami. Set by and in the ocean and themed on the mysteries of life, it depicts the connections between humanity and nature. (wiki)


The “kaiju” in the Japanese title is the Japanese term for a marine mammal (“sea beast”), but is written with Japanese characters that mean literally “strange beast” (referring to monsters like Gojira (1954) and/or Mosura (1961)).

imdb

games, movies

1795 – Monster Hunter (2020)

timespace coordinates: the New World (where humans co-exist with a wide variety of large and savage monsters)

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Monster Hunter is a 2020 science fantasy action film produced, written and directed by Paul W. S. Anderson, based on the video game series of the same name by Capcom. The film stars Anderson’s wife Milla Jovovich in their fifth time working together as director and lead actor. The other cast members include Tony JaaTip “T. I.” HarrisMeagan GoodDiego BonetaJosh HelmanJin Au-Yeung, and Ron Perlman.

Anderson said that part of the film’s inspiration was based on a crossover event in the game Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker with Monster Hunter Freedom Unite in 2010, in which a military squad briefly faced monsters from the Monster Hunter series. (wiki)

Pre-production   /   imdb

books

1793 – The Secret Commonwealth (The Book of Dust #2 – 2019)

timespace coordinates: – journey across Europe and the East The setting is a world dominated by the Magisterium, an international theocracy which actively suppresses heresy. In this world, humans’ souls naturally exist outside of their bodies in the form of sapient “dæmons” in animal form which accompany, aid, and comfort their humans.

The Secret Commonwealth is a 2019 fantasy novel by Philip Pullman, the second volume of his planned trilogy The Book of Dust. The story is set twenty years or so after the events of La Belle Sauvage and ten years after the conclusion of the His Dark Materials trilogy.

Pullman took his title The Secret Commonwealth from a 17th century book of the same name by the Scottish clergyman Robert Kirk, about encounters of country folk with supernatural creatures. (wiki)

goodreads   /   jesussotes

movies

1766 – News of the World (2020)

timespace coordinates: 1870, Wichita Falls, Texas > San Antonio

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News of the World is a 2020 American Western drama film co-written and directed by Paul Greengrass, based on the 2016 novel of the same name by Paulette Jiles, and starring Tom Hanks and introducing Helena Zengel. The film follows a Civil War veteran who must return a young girl who was taken in by (Kiowa) Native Americans as an infant to her last remaining family. (wiki)

imdb   /   rt

books

1754 – La Belle Sauvage (2017 novel)

timespace coordinates: Oxford > London, parallel ~Edwardian era Britain (or Brytain) // “The Trout”  inn, the Priory of St. Rosamund, Jordan College

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The setting is a world dominated by the Magisterium (commonly called “the Church”) an international theocracy which actively suppresses heresy. In this world, humans’ souls naturally exist outside of their bodies in the form of sentient “dæmons” in animal form which accompany, aid, and comfort their humans.

La Belle Sauvage is a fantasy novel by Philip Pullman published in 2017. It is the first volume of a planned trilogy entitled The Book of Dust and is set twelve years before Pullman’s His Dark Materials. It presents events prior to the arrival of the six-month-old Lyra Belacqua at Jordan College, Oxford.

The story follows 11-year-old Malcolm Polstead and his dæmon Asta, and a village girl named Alice and her dæmon Ben, who become the protectors of the infant Lyra Belacqua and her dæmon, Pantalaimon, in Malcolm’s canoe, La Belle Sauvage, during a flood. Malcolm forms a friendship with alethiometer specialist Hannah Relf, allied with the secret freedom-seeking organisation Oakley Street, and is drawn into their fight against the growing strength of the Magisterium, which has learned of a prophecy concerning Lyra. Malcolm and Alice are pursued by the maniacal villain Gerard Bonneville, an ally of the Consistorial Court of Discipline (CCD), as they struggle to reach London and Lyra’s father Lord Asriel, in order to gain the protection of Jordan College for the baby. (wiki)

The-Book-of-Dust-Pullman

goodreads   /   The Golden Compass (2007)

movies

1746 – Mission to Mars (2000)

timespace coordinates: 2020 – ’21. Texas / first manned mission to Mars / the Cydonia region / Earth-orbiting World Space Station / Mars II rescue mission / REMO (“Resupply Module”) orbiting Mars

Mission to Mars is a 2000 American science fiction adventure film directed by Brian De Palma, inspired by Disney‘s theme park attraction of the same name. The film depicts the first manned Mars exploration mission going awry; American astronaut Jim McConnell (Gary Sinise) helps to coordinate a rescue mission for a colleague. Principal support actors were Tim RobbinsDon CheadleConnie NielsenJerry O’Connell, and Kim Delaney. This movie came out the same year as another Mars-themed film, Red Planet (2000). Both were unsuccessful, critically and commercially. 

All the ships were based on actual NASA aircraft and used materials from real aerospace companies. The filmmakers received NASA’s most up-to-date plans for a Mars mission when making the movie. Effects supervisor Hoyt Yeatman says this is a “hardware film.” Almost every location in the movie had to be created from scratch because it didn’t exist in the real world. The crew used over 14,000 gallons of paint to spray the soil “Mars red.” That dust is blown by 10 massive 350-horsepower wind machines. The crew reflected copper light onto the actors to mimic the orange atmosphere of the Martian sky. 

The appearance of the “Face on Mars”, as well as the alien hologram, were modeled after the work of the famous Romanian sculptor Constantin Brâncusi, especially his “Sleeping Muse”(1910).

wiki   /   imdb